Issue 12
Official Summary ZIM and Dib are slingshotted to a horrifying future where the earth is ruled by… ZIM? Yes, Emperor ZIM is triumphant, and humanity bows before his greatness. But Invader ZIM decides his future self is a huge ungrateful jerk, and now ZIM must go to war against himself! http://oni-press.myshopify.com/collections/new-releases/products/invader-zim-13 Release Issue 12 was released on August 10, 2016. Variations zim 12.jpg|Warren Wucinich standard retail cover (Finalized) invader zim 12.jpg|Rashad Doucet variant cover Issue #12 has a total of 2 cover variations so far. #Warren Wucinich standard retail cover #Rashad Doucet variant cover Characters in Issue #12 (In Order of Appearance) Synopsis Zim and GIR (along with a baby GIR is carrying) are onboard the Voot Runner, flying into orbit with the intention of exploding a container of Flamin' Hot Cheezos, so that the resulting powder will destroy all life on Earth. Dib, having figured out what Zim is up to, is chasing after him in Tak's Ship. To elude him, Zim activates his Scary Fast Drive and flies around the sun, a move Dib follows. They both survive the maneuver, but find that they've been slingshotted into the future, to a world where Zim has successfully conquered Earth. In his excitement over seeing this, Zim crashes the Voot into a building, before interrogating a human slave as to where he can find his future-self. As he runs off to find him, Dib heads to his now abandoned and boarded up house, and finds a message left behind by his father, explaining how he's converted himself to pure energy and escaped the Earth, while Dib stayed behind to try and fight Zim. Present Dib is then captured by robots. Zim arrives at his future counterpart's palace, where upgraded versions of the Roboparents escort him to a waiting room. After being stuck in there for six months, Zim finally breaks out before confronting his future-self, Emperor Zim, and an upgraded version of GIR called GIRT. Emperor Zim is very dismissive of his younger self, having forgotten he was waiting, and writing off his Cheezos plan as stupid. The Tallest then call and congratulate Emperor Zim on his plan to fly Earth to them so that they can turn it into a giant snack bowl, which he promises will soon be completed. He then goes off to do this, leaving Present Zim behind in an empty room. Offended by his future self's flat-out disrespect for others, Zim decides on breaking Dib out of the prison cell where he's been locked up with his own future self's skeleton. Zim puts a slave helmet on Dib's head to force him to pilot Tak's ship so that they can work together to defeat Emperor Zim. They then fly off to find him at the Planetary Scary Fast Drive control room in Australia. Zim fights Emperor Zim, while GIR distracts GIRT with the baby (now aged into an old man) and activates the Drive, sending the planet flying out of control through time. Zim throws Emperor Zim into the Drive, seemingly killing him, before he and GIR get on Tak's ship and flee with Dib, leaving all three of them back in the present. The story then ends as they return to Earth, arguing over whether or not Zim's actions changed the timeline. "Invasion!" subplot As Dib sneaks down abandoned streets, he recounts in rhyme how the Earth was quietly invaded, and now everyone has been taken over. Just as he's about to give into despair, he sees Gaz and happily runs to her, only to find that she's been turned into an Irken. More appear and Dib is captured, before Zim appears. Dib defiantly tells him he'll never join them, but Zim laughs and says Dib is already one of them. Dib's skin then tears off, revealing a laughing Irken underneath, as the story ends. Facts of Doom *The Flamin' Hot Cheezos Zim is carrying with his Voot Cruiser in the beginning of the issue is a parody of the snack Cheetos. *Evidently, Zim didn't fully give up on the Hot Cheezos plan as he recycled it in issue 22. *This is the second issue where there's more then one plot in the same issue (A main plot and a second mini plot). Other issues having a second plot are Issue 7, Issue 13, Issue 14, and Issue 17. *The sequence where Zim and GIR are made to wait in Emperor Zim's waiting room for six months, leading to GIR growing a beard from the complacency, is similar to another gag in "The Nightmare Begins", where Zim listens to GIR sing while traveling to Earth, coincidentally, for six months. *How Emperor Zim and GIR were able to grow beards is unknown, as neither of them are capable of growing facial hair. However, the beards were probably a gag on the "evil twin" stereotype, and to show how much time has passed, respectively. *This is the first time in which Zim fought himself, in this case his future-self. The second time would be in Issue 25, where Fitzoo-Menga steals control of his body and leaves Zim's mind stuck in a chair. *Dib noting that if Zim took over his future counterpart's throne it would create a paradox is similar to a scene in "Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy", where GIR's head explodes after discussing how Zim destroying Dib in the past creates a paradox. This issue is waved away on both occasions. *While Dib is looking for Professor Membrane, something resembling a giant PAK with Ms. Bitters' face on it is seen behind the Skool. *This is the first issue to have art by Warren Wucinich, who would go on to do the art for every non-oneshot issue until Issue 27. *In an interview when someone asked Jhonen Vasquez if Zim would ever conquer Earth, he laughed and said yes which finally happened in this issue. *There's a typo on the page where Zim is first starting to fight Emperor Zim, and Dib is pondering the paradox that would come from Zim actually winning. Tak's Ship tells him not to think about it, but the word "it" is missing from the statement, leaving the ship saying "Just don't think about". References Category:Issue Category:Comic Category:Merchandise Category:Comic Series Category:Issue 12 Category:Comic issues with extra content Category:Volume 3